Hedgehog plea...

[Nicos]

As we are trying to encourage wildlife onto our plots, could I ask you to be really aware of bonfires and hedgehogs when burning your waste on the plot??

This year I bought an incinerator from B&Q for £28 in an attempt to avoid roasted hedgehog.
In the past i have just had a poke around at the base, but there is no way I'd have spotted one right in the middle.
Needless to say that this applies to bonfire night aswell, but I think less of us have bonfires in our gardens- just fireworks.

I have been pretty involved with raising baby hedgehogs over the past couple of years, and all those days and nights of 2-3hrly feeds has made me realise how precious these little fellas are.

Pass the word on eh??

[SueA]

Just another thing for the poor little things to worry about Nicos apart from being run over whenever they try to cross the road. We used to have a few hedgehogs visiting our garden in the past but last year & this I have only seen one on a couple of occasions.I have registered with 'Hogwatch' to join the survey as I am worried about what appears to be a decline in the population. Hope everyone takes your advice.

[JennieAtkinson]

There seems to be a decline here as well. We were only saying yesterday that we have not seen a hedgehog either in the garden or around the house for a couple of years now.

[OverWyreGrower]

I'd like to see hedgehogs on our land, but I think with our dog and the neighbours various dogs and cats, they'll not come near us

[Nicos]

The prime killers of hedgehogs are man, followed by badgers and then a long way behind are foxes.

Cars,slug pellets then bonfires. Difficult with cars, but no excuse really with the other 2.

[Waffler]

We used to have a hedgehog at our last house (called Rustle!) but I haven't seen any at this house since we moved in over a year ago. we've got cats, but we had them at the old house and they didn't really bother with them, apart from watching them curiously from a safe distance!

What a shame there's a decline. We should do more to keep the numbers up - but I don't really know what. Good idea Nicos to remind people about bonfire night.

[dexterdoglancashire]

We have a hedgehog who comes and eats anything the birds have left, but usually round 2am! Bless! DDL

[bramble]

The mother and the three baby hedgehogs that were born in my garden in July (i think) moved on about three or four weeks after the birth and we have'ny seen them since. The cats won't harm them as my two cats never bothered with them.

[nick the grief]

hmmmm, roast hedgehog..... oh sorry. Only joking.

A tip I was given a long time ago was to build the bonfire on pallets as they couldn't get in amongst it to snooze but I think a better Idea would be to build it all on the day of your bonfire & store it nearby.

[Alice]

We seem to be short of hedgehogs too. We always used to see them going about, saw their tracks and droppings and knew where they lived. Sometimes we even heard them snoring. About the last 3 years we haven't seen any. Don't know what has changed. We have foxes, but we always did, and we leave undisturbed corners for them. Probably bump into one tomorrow. Hope so.

[Waffler]

Right! I've found what I was looking for...

Ages ago I heard about a device for attaching to the car to help squash less hedgehogs. It's an 'ultrasonic whistle' which you attach to the front of your car, then as you drive along it emits a high frequency whistle, which is inaudible to humans, but which warns animals that you are coming, thus protecting hedgehogs and other animals who have as yet failed to learn the green cross code.

If you go to this website: http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk and download their 'hogalogue' you can order your very own whistle for £7.50. Personally I shall be giving it to all my lot for Christmas. No idea what the stats are for it's success rate, but it's got to be worth a try in my book!

As you would expect, they also sell other hedgehog related stuff, including food and houses etc.

Take a look. Lets get hedgie numbers back up - they're such comical little creatures and great in the garden. Thanks so much Nicos for reminding me of this.

[Nicos]

Credit card on standby!!!

I'm going to be giving these as gifts this Xmas too...better get our orders in before they sell out !
Great find- well done!

[FoxHillGardener]

Fantastic! I'll be giving those out to my car-owning friends.

Even better, see if I can get them on to buses and taxis